SharePoint vs OneDrive vs Teams: Where Files Go

Key takeaways

OneDrive is for one person's work files and drafts; SharePoint is for files the firm or a team shares; Teams is where people talk, and its Files tab is stored in SharePoint.

A good rule of thumb: if the file would still matter to the firm after its author leaves, it belongs in SharePoint or a team, not in someone's OneDrive.

When an account is deleted, its OneDrive is kept for 30 days by default and then removed, so move shared work out before or during offboarding.

In Microsoft 365, OneDrive is for one person's work files, SharePoint is for files the firm or a team shares, and Teams is where people talk about the work. The Files tab in a Teams channel is not a separate store: those files live in a SharePoint site behind the team. Once you see Teams as a front door to SharePoint, most of the confusion goes away.

Why getting this right matters

When files land in the wrong place, the costs show up later. A proposal that only exists in a departed employee's OneDrive. Three copies of the same client folder in three different teams. A policy manual nobody can find because it was emailed as an attachment. None of these are technical failures; they are habits. Clear rules fix them.

The three side by side

OneDrive: who it belongs to

One person. Files are private by default and the owner decides what to share.

OneDrive: best for

Drafts, personal working files, notes and anything not yet ready for the team. Files a user attaches in a one-to-one or group chat are also saved to the sender's OneDrive.

SharePoint: who it belongs to

The firm, through sites. Everyone with access to a site can reach its files, and access is managed by site membership.

SharePoint: best for

Shared company files, client and project folders, department libraries, templates and policies that need to outlast any one person.

Teams: who it belongs to

A team, which is backed by a Microsoft 365 group and its connected SharePoint site.

Teams: best for

Day-to-day conversation, meetings and quick collaboration. Each standard channel gets a folder in the team's SharePoint document library; private and shared channels each get their own SharePoint site.

When the person leaves

OneDrive files depend on offboarding and are deleted after a retention period. SharePoint and Teams files stay with the site, because the site belongs to the firm.

Rules of thumb

• If only you need it right now, start it in OneDrive.

• If someone else needs to find it without asking you, put it in SharePoint or a team.

• If it would still matter to the firm after you leave, it does not belong in OneDrive long term.

• Talk in Teams, keep the file in the team's Files tab, and share a link rather than an attachment.

• Reference material that many people read and few people edit, such as policies, belongs on a SharePoint site rather than in a busy team.

Moving between them is easy. Because OneDrive and SharePoint run on the same platform, a draft in your OneDrive can be moved into a team's library when it is ready, keeping its version history.

Three everyday scenarios

A proposal draft

Take a 10-person architecture firm. A principal starts a fee proposal in her OneDrive while it is rough. Once she wants a colleague's input, she moves it into the Proposals channel of the firm's Business Development team. The discussion happens in the channel, the file sits in the channel's folder in SharePoint, and the final version is still there next year when someone needs to reuse the scope language.

A client folder

Client work should never live in one person's OneDrive. Depending on how the firm is organized, each client or engagement gets a folder in a Clients library on a SharePoint site, or a channel in a client-group team. Access follows site or team membership, so a new hire added to the team can see the right clients on day one, and a departing employee's removal does not take the files with them.

A department policy library

An HR handbook, expense policy and IT acceptable-use policy are read by everyone and edited by a few. A SharePoint communication site works well here: a small group of owners can edit, everyone else can read, and the content does not get buried under chat messages.

What happens when someone leaves

This is where the OneDrive versus SharePoint choice matters most. According to Microsoft's documentation, the OneDrive cleanup clock starts only when the user's account is deleted from Microsoft Entra ID. Blocking sign-in or removing a license does not start it.

• After deletion, the OneDrive is kept for 30 days by default. Admins can change that to anywhere from 30 to 3,650 days.

• If the user has a manager set in their profile, the manager is given access by default and receives an email; otherwise a secondary owner set by the admin can be notified.

• During the retention period, people can still open content that was shared with them. After it ends, the OneDrive moves to a recycle bin for 93 days, shared content stops working, and restoring it requires an administrator.

• Microsoft now archives OneDrive accounts that have been unlicensed for 93 days, including those of deleted users, and getting content back from an archived account requires paid reactivation. Check current Microsoft documentation for how this applies to you.

• Files in SharePoint sites and Teams are not affected by the person leaving, because they belong to the site.

Also worth knowing: files shared in one-to-one and group chats live in the sender's OneDrive, and recordings of regular (non-channel) Teams meetings are saved to the meeting organizer's OneDrive. Those are easy to lose in offboarding unless someone moves what matters to SharePoint.

Common mistakes

• Using OneDrive as a personal file server for client work because it syncs to File Explorer like the old H: drive.

• Creating a new team for every small project until nobody can tell which team holds what.

• Attaching files to chats instead of sharing links to the copy in SharePoint.

• Deleting a departed user's account before anyone has reviewed their OneDrive.

If you are still deciding whether SharePoint can replace your office file server, see our SharePoint versus file server guide. For how to lay out sites, libraries and permissions, see our guide to organizing SharePoint for a small business.

How NexJen can help

Our SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams consulting engagements are advisory: we take a read-only look at where your files live today, how teams and sites are set up and who can reach what, then deliver written findings, a recommended structure and a readout call. Any clean-up or migration work is quoted separately. NexJen Essentials clients also get offboarding help, including handling a departing employee's OneDrive.

Common questions

Are Teams files stored in SharePoint?

Yes. Each team has a SharePoint site, and each standard channel has a folder in that site's document library. Private and shared channels each have their own SharePoint site.

Is OneDrive backed up when an employee leaves?

Microsoft keeps a deleted user's OneDrive for a limited retention period, 30 days by default, and that is not the same as a backup. Move shared work to SharePoint before deleting the account, and consider a separate Microsoft 365 backup service.

Should we sync SharePoint libraries to our computers?

Syncing with the OneDrive app is fine for libraries people use daily. Sync only what you need, since very large libraries can slow things down.

Sources

Identify business requirements for SharePoint and OneDrive (Microsoft Learn)Intro to file collaboration in Microsoft 365 (Microsoft Learn)Overview of Teams and SharePoint integration (Microsoft Learn)Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams (Microsoft Learn)Finding content in Microsoft Teams in eDiscovery (Microsoft Learn)OneDrive retention and deletion (Microsoft Learn)

Files scattered across OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint?

Our SharePoint Online consulting engagement maps where your files live today and recommends a simple structure your team can follow.

Request a consulting quote See our Microsoft 365 consulting services

SharePoint vs OneDrive vs Teams: Where Should Your Files Live?